“Nights in Rodanthe

The year Bush beat Gore, so to speak, many of us were saying that we’d vote for Gore but we’d prefer to hang with G.W. at a dinner party. So here’s the Oliver Stone biopic “W.,” out now on DVD and Blu-ray, claiming the good-old-boy image was an affectation honed by the ex-prez to make him seem more user-friendly. Who knew?
That and some other tidbits, along with a stirring performance by Josh Brolin in the title role, a complementary supporting go-round by James Cromwell as Bush Sr. and Richard Dreyfuss’ cloning of Dick Cheney form the essence of “W.,” a throwaway when Brolin’s not on the screen.

Stone spends most of the first half on a directionless Bush Jr. chugging bottles of booze; there are no Stone-like creative flourishes, just point-and-shoot moviemaking from an unimpressive screenplay. I expected better. Continue Reading →